Suwanosejima

Today we visited another active volcano. Japan has over 100 of them, more than just about every other country, and accounts for more than 10% of all active volcanoes in the world. Today we sailed around one, on our way south to see more of the Japanese island chain. Suwanosejima is one of the most active, and the island has been in a near continuous state of eruption since 1949. It emits a lot of ash, so the ground isn’t very stable, and landslides occur frequently. It was interesting seeing how verdant it was, and the amount of erosion.

Yakushima

Today we visited Yakushima island, home of an extensive old cedar forest. The cedars that are over 1000 years old change their composition, and the wood becomes much sought after. We docked at the port of Miyanoura, and travelled by bus to the Shiratani Unsuikyo ravine,

 where we crossed the river, 

and wandered through the forest, 

seeing moss 

and waterfalls 

and monkeys. 

There were plenty of stairs, and some areas had been rerouted due to landslides.

We then went back to the ship and were taught how to make chopsticks from 1000 year old cedar.